The Emo Killings

When the Iraqi media got wind of the story, they made the situation worse, by spreading rumors that some Iraqi kids were becoming Satanists, vampires, and breaking Islamic mores. On March 8, the Interior Ministry issued a press release saying that any reporting about attacks upon emos were fabrications, and warning anyone of spreading such rumors.

Six days later, security forces detained reporters from Russia Today for three hours who were trying to film a story about the emo killings. All of these reports about the Interior Ministry came after the Education Ministry, back in August 2011, told schools to stop the spread of emo culture. Then on March 18, it issued a statement saying that it was going to ask schools to enforce a dress code to stop the spread of emo culture. This series of statements and actions obviously helped lay the basis for the current situation in the capital over alternative youth. Calling emos Satanists and other alarmist names could have given tactic approval for traditionalists and militants to go after them, and give them the feeling of impunity since the authorities had condemned the kids.